106 
WANDERINGS Ilf 
SECOND 
JOURNEY, 
colours, you might almost be tempted to class him 
with the goat-suckers, on account of his habits. He 
is the largest of all the humming-birds, and is all 
red and changing gold green, except the head, which 
is black. He has two long feathers in the tail, 
which cross each other, and these have gained him 
the name of Karabimiti, or Ara humming-bird, 
from the Indians. You never find him on the sea- 
coast, or where the river is salt, or in the heart of 
the forest, unless fresh water be there. He keeps 
close by the side of woody fresh-water rivers, and 
dark and lonely creeks. He leaves his retreat before 
sunrise to feed on the insects over the water; he 
returns to it as soon as the sun’s rays cause a glare 
of light, is sedentary all day long, and comes out 
again for a short time after sunset. He builds his 
nest on a twig over the water in the unfrequented 
creeks $ it looks like tanned cow leather. 
As you advance towards the mountains of Deme- 
rara, other species of humming-birds present them¬ 
selves before you. It seems to be an erroneous 
opinion, that the humming-bird lives entirely on 
honey-dew. Almost every flower of the tropical 
climates contains insects of one kind or other; now, 
the humming-bird is most busy about the flowers an 
hour or two after sunrise, and after a shower of rain, 
and it is just at this time that the insects come out 
to the edge of the flower in order that the sun’s rays 
may dry the nocturnal dew and rain which they have 
received. On opening the stomach of the humming¬ 
bird, dead insects are almost always found there. 
